The Free Lance-Black Hole does it again!

The editors of the Free Lance-Black Hole took a little longer than the rest of MSM to miss the point of the House Republican transportation plan, but they missed it all the same.  In fact, the FLBH (along with the rest of MSM) are actually making me do the unthinkable (for me) – defend Bill Howell!

The FLBH editorial is full of errors (and I’m being charitable, otherwise I’d call them “lies”), but the main thrust is that they simply can’t handle the fact that the House Republicans came up with a plan that ties transportation funding in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads to transportation activity in those regions, provides more money to the two regions than the Democrats’ statewide plan, and does them both without raising taxes.

Shall we begin?  Here’s the first paragraph:

GROUCHO MARX reportedly said, “I have my principles. If you don’t like them, I have others.” Alas for a traffic-mired commonwealth, the Republican caucus of the House of Delegates has only one principle: no new taxes. Here’s one hundreds of thousands of Virginian motorists wish it had: do your duty.

So . . . the folks at the FLBH would rather the Republicans were unprincipled and malleable ciphers than dedicated and creative public servants.  As for the “do your duty” nonsense, what would you call presenting a plan that sends up to $600 million to NoVa and $300 million to HR and ties future monies to the port and airport activity there?  I’d say the House GOP did its duty just fine.

However, it’s the next paragraph where the FLBH reveal their real problem with the House GOP plan:

. . . House Republicans, meeting last week with the rest of the General Assembly in special session, for the third time refused to advance statewide transportation bills based on new taxes–a time-proven method of building roads dating to ancient Rome, and tied up with the very definition of civilization.

Well now!  Centralized taxing for roads is “time proven”?  Then why is Virginia one of only three states that don’t localize road funding?  Furthermore, Virginia itself not adopt this method until 1932, which last I checked was more than thirteen centuries after the last Emperor to rule over Rome passed from the scene.  Then again, Rome also had slavery and murder-for-sport.  is the FLBH looking to bring those back, too?

The fact is, the FLBH wanted a tax increase, and the House GOP wouldn’t give it to them, so the editors are acting like spoiled children spouting words that sound smart but have no basis in fact.  to see what I mean, check out the next paragraph:

. . . House Republicans once again willfully failed to meet their basic legislative responsibility to produce critical infrastructure. Think about that dereliction when a formerly three-hour trip down I-64 to the beaches takes five or six, or when the minutes of your life dribble away in a Northern Virginia that is pushing its frontier of traffic frustration ever deeper into Greater Fredericksburg.

So, if the FLBH is to be believed, the Democrats were the ones who would have provided the funds needed for HR and NoVa.  Well, let’s take a look at the two proposals.  Which one provides more potential funds for Northern Virginia?  If you answered the one from the Senate Democrats, you’re wrong.  The Senate plan provides $2.28 billion over seven years (less than $330 million per year on average).  The House Republican plan (the new HB6055) by contrast provides up to $600 million a year.  As for Hampton Roads, it’s the same story; the Senate plan provides $1.55 billion over seven years (Under $225 million per year on average), while the House plan has up to $300 million a year.

Keep those numbers in mind when the Democrats and their MSM enablers tell you the Republicans don’t care about Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads.

The rest is just mindless ranting that I wouldn’t even expect from a freshman in college.  Still, the end of the piece had a nice line that just needs a little tweaking:

The latest obstruction in Richmond is, however, clarifying. It verifies, almost according to the scientific method, that Virginians can have an effective transportation system, or they can have a Republican majority in the House of Delegates. “Or,” not “and.” The next election will settle which Virginians hold more important.

Not quite, fellas; as I noted earlier, the Republicans had a perfectly viable first step to a more effective transportation system.  What we actually learned goes something like this: that Virginians will have their taxes go up, or they will have Republicans control the House of Delegates. “Or,” no longer ”and.” The next election will settle which Virginians hold more important.  I’m guessing they won’t go for the former.

Cross-posted to Rappahannock Red